Solikon2015 - Week of Change and Conference on Solidarity Economy

www.solikon2015.org

Let us build together an economy which prioritizes cooperation instead of competition and is based on the common good rather than on profit; an economy of small business cycles and regions which are characterized by their resilience as an alternative to extractive and irresponsible exploitation of the sources of our life.

To achieve this, it will be necessary to valorize human labour in all its forms as well as to valorize nature. The challenge of our time is a great transformation: towards effective climate protection and a socially and globally fair society in which the economy decidedly serves the common good and is a subsystem of ecology.

Good news: The economy of short circuits and of happiness ... it already exists!

SE means to recall that the sole reason for the existence of economy is to meet human needs. Therefore, the congress asks in a first step: how can we meet our basic needs without jeopardizing our grandchildren?

It is also about the emancipation of the whole society from consumerism and an advertising industry that induces desires to buy more and more commodities suggesting that they will satisfy our immaterial needs.
In order that the economy does not cause starvation but does feed all, a respectful use of (natural) resources such as soil, water, energy and an equal access to them for everyone is paramount.

In the face of a repressive European policy, which ignores the knowledge and experience of the affected societies, we want to listen to speakers of self-managed projects and enterprises and their perspectives of transformation with special attention to Southern Europe, that is currently under extreme pressure. Also in several Latin American countries solidarity practices have been organized in times of crisis. Some of them have, in the meantime, become impressive institutions, e.g. the "Regional Forums" and "Incubadoras" in Brazil, so that we can learn from them a lot for the bottom-up transformation of our societies.

Key themes of the conference are:

• Meet basic needs (nutrition, shelter, clothing ...) from consumption to cooperation between producers and consumers (“Prosum”); new forms of collaboration
• Access to and responsible use of resources (land, water, energy, ...)
• Getting to know and strengthen regional cooperation (e.g. Berlin Brandenburg and beyond); build up Regional Fora (in order to build solidarity production chains or networks supported by major regional actors) for attaining the re-regionalization of the economy
• International cooperation: promoting ecological and fair solidarity trade structures - also as alternatives to TTIP, CETA etc. Sharing experiences and strategies in building SE: Learning from Latin America and Southern Europe, use the potential of free knowledge.
• Discussion of transformation strategies between key social actors on the one hand and persons involved in the theory and practice of SE and related approaches on the other.

We need the change - now. To act sustainable and fast we need all of us! Bring alternatives to the public and find starting points, find answers on the questions how to create a solidarity economy and be empowered to activate others.

The conference and week of change are open for everybody. We prevend childcare and some events for younger people. There are workshops in many different levels, especially on thursday we focus on introduction and local projects. Who cannot come to Berlin is invited to have a look at our video- and audio-material we will prevent on our Website.

A conference like this simply cannot solicit funds from the industry, as the so-called free economy is exactly what we need to overcome.

We found cooperation partners who support us financially and structurally. We would also like to thank our media partners and many initiatives and projects that are participating in the organization of the congress and the numerous events around it! But despite the lively encouragement there is still no budget for all the things that make up a congress of solidary coexistence: low participation fees, interpreters to remove language barriers, lunch, childcare, etc.

With your donation you can help to make exactly these things happen:

• childcare
• finance a video stream, which allows more people to participate in the congress, even if they cannot afford a ticket or cannot participate for other reasons
• provide monetary support to our many helpers, who have been instrumental in preparing the conference
• refund travel expenses to speakers and artists, and – if at all possible - pay them a fee for their work
• finance interpretation technology and mitigate linguistic participation weaknesses